Tuesday, June 1, 2010

And what a year it was for the new news network. President Carter lost his re-election attempt, there was the Love Canal Emergency the U.S. boycotted the Olympics, there was an Iran hostage crisis, Mount St. Helens erupted, Cuba halted its 'freedom flotilla' and John Lennon was assassinated.Here's a clip from the opening few minutes of that first broadcast:

9 comments:

Anonymous
said...

I hope Jim Walton gets CNN back to it's roots.Don't tell me people want to be entertainedwith 360 being CNN's top show. The repeatat 11 was # 1 in the demo.TVN says Andersonis in the Gulf all week. I noticed that BrianWilliams is back and ABC has dispatched some of it's top people. Anderson needs tostep up his game. The best thing I saw todaywas ABC. In the beginning Diane Sawyer startedwith the facts and then the show went on todifferent angles. People want to see and hearwhat is going on now CNN. This is not aboutKatrina. Right now you can see the work being done to cup the pipe and that is whereI hope 360 begins tonight. There is anaudience for news, raw reporting andpictures you won't see anywhere else.

CNN needs to have their people embeddedwith as many people as possible all around theGulf region. No limits reporting should be thetheme for CNN. No more of we hear from allsides.3 words video, video and video,That isthe purpose of television.

"Don't tell me people want to be entertained," by the news. I will tell you that. Just because 360 beat a repeat of the big O on a Friday, means nothing. It was a REPEAT and this is news that is new and important so viewers are tuned in. If you want to get a fair sense of what people are thinking who are OBJECTIVE, follow the comments on TVN. They do not fawn over AC and although I don't always agree with them, they make up a large majority of WHO watches cable news and its demos.I do agree that AC needs "to step up his game." Until he tops one million, as they say in good English, It "DON'T" count.

Good 360 tonight let's see what happensthis week. John Roberts was on at 8 tonight.Campbell even coming back? CNN shoulddo what works for CNN. I may be in theminority here, I don't like any of the 8 pmshows, they are all way too predictable.

CNN does not need to have people embedded near the Gulf. The POTUS needs to have HIS people embedded near the Gulf and give us back some of his inspiration...you know the campaign style inspiration, before it's too late for NOLA and too late for him.

CNN please don't compare the Gulf oil spillto Iran hostage crisis. Americans was heldcaptive after radicals stormed the US embassyin Teheran.It is time for the analogies to end.There is no comparison to the Gulf oil crisis ;this has never happened before. Also, when going to video,map or graphics can CNN justhave the CNN logo and nothing else.It is fineto have the BP live feed while in the studiobut CNN needs to quit interfering with videoand maps. The on air look is vital to bringin viewers. I want to protest losing a quarterof my tv screen because of intrusive graphics.Anderson is this generations news man.Hipsters know what is going on so theyknow just how much the news is missing.CNN will never beat FNC or MSNBC bytrying to be them.CNN needs to find theirSteve Jobs now and come up with somebetter shows.

Here are some names who can help CNNreinvent itself with their journalistic style.Marianna Van Zeller who is without a doubta younger version of Christianne Amanpour.If you don't believe me take a look at hercurrent doc for Current TV on gays in Uganda.It embodies the kind of journalism that needsto be spotlighted on a daily basis on CNN.Hire Van Zeller and her Vanguard colleaguesAdam Yamaguchi,Christof Putzel and KajLarsen. They chase down stories that youwill not see anywhere else. Yamaguchi isthe environmental guy.He has an interestingdoc coming up on a shortage of toiletsaround the world that is creating somereal problems.TSR is supposed to beold and new media. All of these newbreed journalists would fit well with Wolfand even Ancerson. After all, AC didtravel the world for stories for ABCin the 90's, The thing is these are freshfaces who can bring a lot to the plateand provide CNN with a wealth of material.I doubt if Current has the money to reallymake this something big and they dohave a following , but a network likeCNN is better for them. CNN would haveto give them the freedom to tell theirstories. Vanguard is the most compellingdoc series in ages. If you don't believeme take a look at their work for Current.If it is interesting people will watch.CNN needs a game changer.I don't knowif Jim Walton is aware of their work buthe should be.

This may have been a mistake, but something tells me it's not.According to TVN, LKL is being repeated at 11PM and not AC360. This could be a blow to Cooper whose show was always given the 2 hour slot and just recently beat O'Reilly in repeats in the demos.Looks like CNN IS trying a new stradegy.Congratulations to Wolf Blitzer for being the only show in the non prime time lineup to have an increase in ratings.Poor Rick's list lost what he never had....an audience.